Means for supporting water-tube boilers



' Wa'irzmses May 6; "1930 L. STEINMULLER 1,757,343 l MEANS FOR SUPPORTING WATER TUBE BOILERS Filed Sept. 10, 1925 2 Shets-Sheet l 2 J72 6311 iqr; lml @M I Magi tmmallzz' war/w Mai 6, 1930.

L. STEINMULLER 1,757,343 MEANS FOR SUPPORTING WATER TUBE BOILERS Filed Sept. 10, 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F'q 3. 1 I

9 k fi 9 j x a 6 Vii/26,5535: I dime/Zia: 6; $rw/ziifezizrmiln PatentedMay 6, 1939 it unis!) STATES PATENT OFFIE LEBRECHT STEINMI TLLER, OF GUMMERSBACH, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR T FIRM: L. 85 G. STEINMIILLER, OF GUMMERSBAGH, RHEINLANI) MEANS FOR SUPPORTING WATER-TUBE BOILERS Application filed September 10, 1926, Serial No. 55,588, and in Germany August 11, 1925.

Water tube boilers comprising upper and lower drums connected by water tubes have been frequently hitherto supported from a girder or structural frame by slings arranged one at each end and fastened to the girder or frame. Such a method of supporting water tube boilers is only suitable for very small units or very large ones in which the diameter of the drum gives adequate stiffness to prevent an excessive bending in the centre but even in such cases the weight of the boiler when filled might give rise to danger. In modern boilers and more especially high pressure boilers, such a method of support- 5 ing them is quite unsuited, as the drums are relatively long and of thick metal whilst the diameter is small. In such boilers suspension by means of end slingers would certainly give rise to excessive bending as the suspension applied to the top drum has to carry the load of the bottom drum and'also the tubes. In designing the suspension, care has to be taken that the tube bank can expand freely under the heat of the furnace gases and that y the drums should be free to set or curve in the manner which is practically inevitable under conditions of irregular heating.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of suspension for any desired size of water tube boiler and suitable to all conditions, even when the girder or. like support itself bends or curves under the temperature conditions which prevail.

' The novel suspension device is characterized by the fact that the drum is supported at three or more points at regular intervals along the length of the drum and these supporting points are connected to the girder or 40 like carrier by flexible members which ensure substantial or actual equality of distribution of the load over all the points of support. The total load is, as it were divided into as many parts as there are suspension points and the points of application of this load are distributed in a manner to minimize bending moments.

Some typical methods of carrying out this invention are illustrated in somewhat diagrammatic form in the acompanying drawfin ings in which:

Figurel is an elevation of a water tube boiler unit suspended in accordance with this 1nvention.

Figure 2 is an end View of the same.

Figures 3 to 5 are diagrammatic side views of various forms of flexible suspension arrangements applied to the top drum of a Water tube boiler unit, the lower drum and the water tubes being omitted, as these are similarly arranged to Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 6 is a cross section of a drum with two parallel rows of suspension members and Figure 7 is a cross section of a drum with two parallel rows of flexible suspension members which are inter-connected cross-wise so as to equalize the load distribution.

In carrying the invention into effect the boiler unit is conceived as composed of an upper drum a which is connected to a lower Z0 drum! 6 by a bank of tubes 0.

The drums a and b may be vertically under one another as indicated in the drawing or the bank of tubes may be inclined in the well known manner and any desired number of units such as illustrated may be united to form a complete boiler. These features do not affect the invention which only relates to the method of suspending the unit, whether the suspension has to take the weight of the entire unit, top and bottom drum, or only a part of that weight.

In Figure 1 of the drawing the boiler unit is supported from a girder a by means of a linkage or a series of linkages connecting the girder with the drum a. The preferred form of one such linkage connection will now be described.

A lever g is pivoted at the point is to the girder or to the supporting member rigidly connected to the girder member. Links 71/ are connected to each end of the lever g and serve to support additional levers g pivoted intermediate their ends to the linkage 71/. Each of the levers g is connected to the links 71 the opposite ends of the links it being connected to the upper drum a. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, these linkage connections are preferably arranged in pairs, one on each side of the upper drum, and it will be seen that in this manner an articulated support is provided for the boiler which willserv-e to distribute the stresses and strains in the boiler structure and result in equality of load distribution regardless of any tendency of the upper drum to curve or warp under unequal heating action. In Figure 3 a static system of levers is provided comprising a main lever g pivoted .at its centre is to the girder c. This lever carries at its ends suspension links h on which are hung further balance levers 9 connected by links h to the drum suspension eyes 8. This system of levers would be in equilibrium even if the boiler assumed an inclined position. The flexible lever system shown in Figure 3 is similar to that shown in Figures 1 and 2,

the system being duplicated in the latter fig ures in order to ensure that the boiler will retain the position to which ithas been set whilst at the same time giving freedom for meeting the torsions and strains which occur owing to inequality of heating. Instead of such duplication however, the levers may be provided with suitable stops to limit their swing and thus keep the drum to its horizontal position within practical limits.

, The variations which may be made in the suspension are manifold, as for instance shown in Figure ewhere a flexible three point suspension is illustrated. In Figure 4 the system is statically fixed and the load is evenly distributed between the points of suspension. The invention can of course also be applied in cases where the girder supports are arranged transversely to the-axis of the boiler drum a. Such a form is shown in Figure 5, where in addition, bell crank levers p, articulated together by links p take the place of the balance levers g. It will be seen that the bell crank levers are connected in pairs by the links p and the suspension links h join the other ends of the levers p to the suspension eyes on the drum. It can also be seen from this figure that the girders carrying the boiler may be at various heights and the pivot supports may be resting on the girder, as at the right in Figure 5, or hanging from the girder, as at the left in the same figure.

Figures 6 and 7 show various ways in which the suspension eyes may be attached. In Figure 6, the eyes are arranged in two parallel rows and are carried by pads or underlays 0 It is sometimes desired to prevent side swinging of the boiler and this is best effected by employing two parallel suspensions as shown in Figure 6. In such a case however it is also advisable to ensure that the suspension members on each side of the drum central plane take equal shares of the load. This can be very simply done by articulating the suspension systems transversely as indicated in Figure 7 where the wire rope or like flexible member (2 passes ransversely to the drum from one suspension system to the parallel system on the other side, that is to say the rope (Z is passed under the pulleys f over the drum a. It will be readily understood thatthe same cross articulation can be applied to the lever susensions shown in Figures 3 to 5.

It will be recognized that by means of this invention the supports formerly applied to the ends of the drum are omitted and in consequencethe length of the drum may be shortened or, which comes to the same thing, the water tube bank maybe continued to a point nearer the ends of the drum. Thus for the same structural width of the boiler setting a greater heating surface may be obtained and a greater power generated. Thus by the suspension means herein described, not only are the stresses and strains in the boiler structure better distributed and allowed for, but a material increase in the capacity of the boiler may be obtained without increase in the outside dimensions of the setting. As mentioned above, the equality of the load distribution is not deleteriously affected either by curving or warping of the drum, under unequal heating action or by similar warping of the beam or girder supports 6.

I claim, 7

1. A suspension for water tube boilers having upper and lower drums connected by water tubes comprising, a plurality, greater than two, of suspension eyes fixed to the upper side of the upper drum to one side of a central vertical plane thereof, a similar and parallel plurality of suspension eyes similarly fixed on the other side of said central vertical plane, a girder structure located over the upper drum, suspension members having their ends secured to said girder support, each of said suspension members being operatively associated with a pair of suspension eyes, one oneach side of the upper drum, whgreby the distribution of the load is equalize 2. A suspensionfor water tube boilers having upper and lower water drums connected by Water tubes, said suspension comprising a support located above the upper water drum, a centrally pivoted lever supported by said support, a pair of levers, links connect ing the said pair of levers at the centre thereof to the opposite ends of said first mentioned lever, eyes secured to the upper drum, and a plurality of links connecting the ends of the second pair of levers to said eyes.

DR. LEBREGHT STEINMU'LLER. 

